English Teacher & Social Entrepreneur - MatthewAlberto.com

5 Reasons Why You Should Never Get a Job

Datsusara: A Japanese term which means “to escape from being a salary worker”

Today marks my day of freedom.

It was officially my last day of working in a job.

Escaping “Work For Work’s Sake”

Datsusara. That pretty much epitomises my current state of being.

After several months working for an international organization, I have decided to no longer continue working for a living.

I don’t want to work for a living.

Nor do I want to live for work.

I want to be free.

Climbing Up the Work Ladder

A few years ago, I was a bright eyed and ambitious young guy who wanted to change the world.

In order to make a difference, I chose to work in large international organizations of the world.

It was my goal to start small. Volunteer for positions. Get a long term contract. Achieve permanent employment. Work my way up the ladder.

While I respect very much many of the people I’ve worked with, I guess I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s just not for me.

Perhaps I’m a rebel of sorts. Perhaps I just don’t fit well in the organizational diagrams. I can’t be neatly fitted into boxed up positions.

We did alot of great work while at my job – alot of very challenging and touching work. Alot of it affected me, and changed me too.

Although, I believe I can do much more with the skills and talents that I’ve been given.

I personally feel that I can’t share them with the world while I’m being boxed up in an organization.

I want to break free, like a bird released from its cage.

Does this resonate with you?

A Declaration to Job Free Living

I’m using this very blog post as a clear reminder for myself as to why I no longer wanted to continue my contract, and why I never want to continue working in a 9 to 5 job for an organization or company ever again.

Perhaps this post will make you feel uncomfortable. Maybe you should be disturbed with your own job if you are unhappy.

Though I’m not here to tell you what to do.

These are the reasons why I’m going to live a more entrepreneurial lifestyle from now on.

Jobs as Eroding Your Personal Freedom?

Here are 5 reasons why you should never get a job:

1) Intellectual Freedom

Wouldn’t you like to think for yourself for a change? “Yes boss.”

I like to think. I like to have an opinion. Unfortunately, when you work for a large organization or a large corporation, you’ll often have to keep your thoughts and opinions to yourself.

This can be very annoying when the way that your company or organization does things is outdated, inefficient and impractical. It’s even worse when your company does things that’s against your personal values.

But that’s the way we do things around here, you’re told.

It’s true that there are some people who don’t like to take charge of their thoughts and actions. It’s too bad that I’m not one of them.

2) Financial Freedom

How can you change the world when you’re struggling yourself to pay your lousy bills?

Working with a small salary can be uninspiring.

I was barely scraping it with my finances a few months ago. It was embarrassing to have to live in a crummy apartment that was infested with strange bugs, had a broken toilet for months, and had mold growing everywhere.

It’s also difficult for a person to be in a relationship or start a family when that person is struggling financially.

Many jobs pay little. Jobs in the social sector, in particular, tend to pay less.

I’m of the opinion that entrepreneurship has better prospects for achieving financial freedom.

For most people, it can be difficult to care about the helping others when you are struggling to help yourself.

I’ve come to the conclusion that if I want to make a greater impact in the world, I need to be financially free too.

3) Time Freedom

Isn’t strange that the majority of people go to work from 9 to 5?

Why are we conditioned that this is the natural state of daily human existence? Are you a robot?

I believe that time is the currency of life. If you lose your money, you can make more of it. When it comes to time however, it’s a different story.

If you waste your time, you can’t get it back. I actually began to find it annoying that I couldn’t control what I did with my own time.

I’ve got so many goals in my life, and I want to do and be so many things. I found it limiting that a job restricted me from choosing what I wanted to do at any particular point in time.

I had sold my time to the job. During that time, my body, my mind and my focus were to be given to the whims and requests of my boss.

What would happen if you decided what you wanted to do with your time?

4) Geographical Freedom

Have you ever found it fascinating observing how people will move to random parts of the country or parts of the world in order to follow a job.

Don’t worry, I’ve done it myself.

If you had the choice, where would you like to live?

I don’t think too many people ask this question.

Personally, I want to travel around the world, to different countries and live in a number of them to immerse myself in various cultures and contribute to global communities.

I figure that if I stay in a job, even for an international organization, I’ll be posted to places according to where they want me to go rather than on where I want to go.

I believe that by removing yourself from a conventional job, you can choose where you can live and travel.

5) Creative Freedom

Wouldn’t you like to be involved in fun, creative and innovative projects?

I do. Unfortunately, the organizations that I’ve worked with so far have failed to nurture my inner creativity. I even have experiences where I’ve tried to add my modern flair of creativity, only for it to be rejected because it was against the “corporate standards” and against policy for me to be thinking outside the box.

*Ouch!*

That really hurt. I had to kill my inner creativity because I thought that would be appropriate.

Little did I know that my creative monster inside would only retaliate later on and influence me to escape from working in a job.

And here I am today: unemployed and entrepreneurial. =)

Now, I’ll allow my creativity to flourish.

I wonder where it can take me?

Living Beyond Working in a Job

If you value the 5 freedoms mentioned above, then you may be questioning whether having a typical 9 to 5 job is right for you.

You may be curious what I’ll be doing with my time now, and how on earth I have the money to continue living without a 9 to 5 paycheck.

How will I be able to continue making a difference in the world? Have I given up on my childhood dreams?

Hahaha. No I haven’t. As with all things, if there’s a will then there’s a way.

Keep checking the blog over the next few weeks, months and years and you’ll see my plans unfold.